Between May 5 and June 9 at least 2,342
children were snatched from their parents
because of a Trump / Republican policy change. That new policy was suspended
June 20 but the children are still separated. They joined another
1,768 kids that were taken from their parents
Oct 2016 – Feb 2018. As of last week there were a total of 11,869
children being held in HHS custody. These
numbers sound comfortingly precise but the reality is a
lot more confused. The immigrant child custody system has
never worked well and was stressed significantly
by adding 25% more kids in one month.

What’s next for the kids? The June 20 executive
order reduces the number of children being separated in the future
but does nothing to help the ones who were already snatched. This CNN
timeline summarizes court decisions on what happens next.

July 6: parents must be able to contact their children

July 10: children under 5 reunited with their parents

July 26: all children reunited with their parents

It seems likely that “reunited with their parents” means
“placed into immigrant detention with their parents”. This
creates a new problem, kids can only be held in immigrant jails for
20 days. So far there is no solution proposed
for that limit. Expect another crisis maybe as
early as July 10.

The separation policy is
an atrocity. It was deliberately engineered to cause significant harm
to children for political gain. The baffling
array of different motivations stated for the policy only
added to the confusion. But two stated reasons for taking kids away
stand out as clearly important. One, to create a deterrent to future
immigrants. And two, to create pressure in Congress to change immigration
law. Holding 2,342 children hostage for these goals is monstrous.